


Dirk Strider is

by Fruitloop1001



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Sburb Session, Doomed Timelines, Sadstuck, Suicide mention, mentions of jane and jake, note that major character death my friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-05
Updated: 2016-07-05
Packaged: 2018-07-21 16:33:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7395109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fruitloop1001/pseuds/Fruitloop1001
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Snapshots of Dirk Strider's life as he lives it. He is lonely, until he isn't.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dirk Strider is

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this in one sitting, so please feel free to point out spelling or syntax errors!

[Who survived?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAIDqt2aUek)   
[Somebody new?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAIDqt2aUek)   
[Anyone else but you?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAIDqt2aUek)

  
Dirk Strider is five when he realizes that there was supposed to be more to the world than just Sawtooth and himself. He has known nothing other than the cement walls of his apartment. The cry of the seagulls when the sun rises. From then on, he decides to learn everything he can about the civilization he had lost.

Dirk Strider is seven when he meets a girl his age. Then a boy his age. They talk in blue and green and he loves them more than thought he could. He learns how to talk to people who aren’t mechanical. It’s glorious and he cries. He doesn’t know why.

Dirk Strider is eleven when he realizes why he’s all alone. And that Jane and Jake exist in the past; he’ll never get to actually meet them. It’s heart wrenching and he cries. This time, he knows why. He dries his eyes and pulls out his sword as the roar of thrusters quiets. Only to be replaced by metal feet crushing gravel. He can cry when he isn’t trying to keep himself alive.

Dirk Strider is fifteen when he wonders why he hasn’t killed himself yet. He has friends, sure. But they can make more. From their time. He chalks it up to pride and puts on Spirit. His hands are calloused with sword practice and dragging in heavy fishing nets. He has to scavenge tomorrow; the AC is making a low hum that he thinks is ominous.

Dirk Strider is in his mid twenties when he starts noticing that the drones don’t come around anymore. Blue and green interactions start occurring less frequently. He wonders if it’s his fault. Or if something has happened. No, they assure him, he’s still their friend. It’s just that- excuses excuses excuses. That’s not fair to them. Jane has a family and business to run. Jake is more often than not adventuring outside of his island. They offer to house him, if he ever needed it.

He needs it.

Dirk puts on Spirit to make himself feel better, Squarewave sitting by his knee.

Dirk Strider is nearly thirty when he discovers a capsule containing a child. It was during one of his salvage trips; there was a lab he had spent the better part of his day finding a way into. He had nearly turned back empty handed and down a few liters of compressed oxygen when he noticed a window had fallen out of place. A massive machine surrounded this child, keeping her contained in some kind of overgrown test tube. It was almost as if the facility had been made for her specifically. Her hair was nearly transparent and stirred ever so slightly with each breath she took. He was instantly taken aback by how utterly doll-like she was. Dirk has never seen another human being and it scared him.

It’s not until several days later that he returns. He brought more oxygen, and another mask. Specialized tools weigh him down but it hardly impacts his enthusiasm. Another human being. They were all supposed to be dead. _Eat shit, Batterwitch._

  
She sleeps for the rest of the day on Dirk’s bed; hair a halo around her head. She’s so still that occasionally Dirk has to press his ear to her heart and listen. Just to make sure. She wakes up in the middle of the night with a hesitant “Hello?” Dirk rushes from his position in the kitchen into his bedroom. The girl is panicking. Of course she is.

The next few years are the highlight of Dirk Strider’s life. Roxy Strider is the love of his life; she’s brilliant and everything Dirk had hoped for. He teaches her everything he knows, showing her every movie he ever loved. She is the culmination of his entire being and he cannot stop the way his heart fills with joy every time he hears her say his name.

Dirk Strider is thirty when he’s holding Roxy as she sobs in his arms. She had asked why they were the only two around when history was so full of people. He had to watch as her heart broke- just as his did so many years ago. She clutches the fabric of his shirt and screams about how unfair it is, shedding tears for the both of them. He watches Spirit with her to make her feel better.

Dirk Strider is thirty-five, just shy of thirty-six, when he dies. Roxy finds his body at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the roof. He slipped. His head is bent at an odd angle and something in his neck is nearly poking out of the skin. His hair is nearly transparent and plastered to his forehead by sweat. She was instantly taken aback by how utterly doll-like he was.

Roxy Strider is twelve when her caretaker dies. She is not ready to be alone and the idea scares her.

It’s not until several days later does she move his body. He’s stiff and cold and she has to squint through her tears to even see what she’s doing. In the end, he’s too heavy for her to move on her own. For the first time in years, Sawtooth is booted online. He picks up Dirk’s body like it was nothing. Which it was now. He moves as Roxy directs. She wants to give him a proper funeral. Like the kind she was told about, with vikings and fire and the promise of Valhalla. Dirk Strider’s corpse is thrown off the side of his apartment.

Roxy Strider is thirteen when she leaves the apartment she has lived in her entire life. The year after Dirk’s death was spent making a boat. It was metal and basic, but she knew enough engineering to make a working motor. There are too many memories in the apartment for her. Sawtooth and Squarewave lay dormant in ~~her~~ Dirk’s room. She brought along everything she thought she would need. It causes the boat to sink lower and she is frightened.

Roxy Strider is thirteen when she finds Dirk in Valhalla.


End file.
